General National Patient Rights Protection

On 4 March 2002 the Act No. 2002-303 concerning the rights of patients and the quality of the health system (amending among other things the Public Health Code and the Civil Code) was approved by the French Parliament. Patients’ associations were active in promoting this Act. A redefinition of priorities by the government places from now on “the individual, the person, in other words the patient or the user, as the focus of concerns, at the centre of legislation: we must move from a system of professionals to a system directed towards the individual”. The Act inserts a preliminary chapter in the Public Health Code entitled “Rights of the Individual”. The Act includes three objectives. The first objective is to enhance patients’ ability to use their “voice” in the health care system. A key emphasis hereby is put on individual rights for the patient. The words of article 1111-1 of the Public Health Code could not be more clear: “There can be no democratic health system without a corresponding legal framework of rights accorded to sick people and users.” The second objective is to improve the quality of care and to develop continuing education for health care professionals and evaluation of professional practice. A third objective concerns the protection against the risks related to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. On 22 April 2005 the Act No. 2005-370 concerning the rights of patients and the end of life came into force. Like the Act of 2002, this Act amends in the first place the Public Health Code. Both Acts taken together, France disposes of extensively developed patient rights legislation.

Top